If we justify war, it is because all peoples always justify the traits of which they find themselves possessed, not because war will bear an objective examination of its merits. – Ruth Benedict
The crucial differences which distinguish human societies and human beings are not biological. They are cultural. – Ruth Benedict
Our faith in the present dies out long before our faith in the future. – Ruth Benedict
No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking. – Ruth Benedict
Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television. – Lewis Thomas